Shane Gillis, Brett Kavanaugh, and the Comedy of Power
White men have always had the ability to pass off violence as ‘funny.’ Gillis’ downfall shows that audiences have stopped laughing.
Just a few years ago, Shane Gillis’ actions would not have gotten him fired from Saturday Night Live. This is not to say he was not worth firing. He stands out as one of the least employable comics in recent memory. Hours after the show announced Gillis’ hiring last week, clips surfaced from his “comedy” “podcast,” nearly all of which consisted of bigoted, openly racist jokes.
The content of that podcast, particularly the material on Asians, has been widely discussed: Gillis employed mocking accents, crowed about “ladyboys” (because casual racism isn’t complete without a little bonus transphobia), and expressed a general contempt for the people he referred to as “fucking ch**ks.” Anti-Asian racism wasn’t the only bigotry Gillis indulged in: He also called fellow comedian Chris Gethard a “fa**ot” for talking openly about his depression, and ranked genders and races based on their comedic ability. (“White chicks are the absolute bottom,” he concluded.) And rest assured, Gillis knew what he was doing: “You can be racist to Asians,” Gillis told an interviewer in 2016. “That’s what we’re finding out.”
